Razorpay, a leading Indian fintech firm, unveiled a groundbreaking pilot for "Agentic Payments" on Thursday at the Global Fintech Fest (GFF) 2025, partnering with OpenAI and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to enable seamless UPI transactions directly within ChatGPT. The initiative allows users to shop and pay for items—like groceries on BigBasket—through simple text conversations, without navigating apps or entering payment details mid-session.

Currently in private beta, the feature has opened early access registrations, marking India's first foray into AI-driven conversational commerce on a global scale. This builds on UPI's dominance, which processed over 15 billion transactions monthly in 2025, integrating it with OpenAI's large language models for autonomous task execution.

At the heart of Agentic Payments is a network of AI agents—specialised mini-chatbots—that handle multi-step processes: querying vendor catalogues, selecting products, building carts, and processing payments via UPI innovations like UPI Circle and UPI Reserve Pay. Users set spending limits once, then converse naturally; for example, requesting "ingredients for a Thai vegetable curry for four" prompts ChatGPT to suggest options, confirm preferences, and complete the order after user approval.

Banking partners Axis Bank and Airtel Payments Bank secure the backend, while BigBasket, a Tata enterprise, is the inaugural merchant, enabling end-to-end shopping from discovery to checkout in one interface. Razorpay CEO Harshil Mathur demonstrated the flow in a viral X post, showing ChatGPT sourcing items, itemising costs, and finalising UPI payments in under a minute, emphasising "no redirects, no hassles."

The launch reflects generative AI's rapid evolution, from 2023's conversational chatbots to 2024's media generation, now extending to real-world actions like e-commerce. OpenAI's international strategy head, Oliver Jay, hailed the collaboration as blending "advanced AI with UPI—one of the world's most trusted real-time payment networks—to foster effortless commerce, especially in India, ChatGPT's fastest-growing market with over 100 million users.

Globally, similar features have emerged from Google and Perplexity AI, but India's pilot uniquely leverages UPI's interoperability for low-friction, bank-grade security. As e-commerce surges—projected to hit $350 billion by 2026—such integrations could streamline 70% of mobile shopping, reducing cart abandonment from navigation friction.

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Yet, the convenience raises valid security concerns: granting AI access to UPI IDs and vendor accounts exposes users to risks like data breaches, prompt injections, or unauthorised transactions. OpenAI stresses minimal data collection via open-source protocols and user-controlled approvals, but experts urge vigilance, including multi-factor consents and audit trails. Preeti Jain of BigBasket noted the "seamless" experience, while regulators monitor for compliance with RBI's data localisation rules. As the pilot expands to more platforms, balancing innovation with privacy will define AI's role in fintech, potentially redefining how 1.4 billion Indians shop daily.

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